"Robert came to see me," she resumed. "He paid a visit in unconventional manner--waylaid me, in fact, in this very avenue, and asked me to help him. He declined to meet my husband, and was very bitter about my marriage to a foreigner. However, I forgave him, for my own heart was sore in me, and he also had been unfortunate in a different way. We had a long talk, and I kissed him at parting. I afterwards found that Giovanni had seen us from his bedroom. He thought Robert was David. I do not think he believed me, even when I showed him the counterfoil of my cheque-book, and the amount of a remittance I sent to Robert next day."
"How much was the sum?"
"Five hundred pounds."
"And where did you send it?"
"To the Hotel Victoria."
"In his own name?"
"Certainly."
"Have you ever met him since?"
"Yes, unfortunately. I was in London, driving through Regent Street in a hansom, when I saw him on the pavement. I stopped the cab, and asked him to come to luncheon. We have no town house, so I was staying at the Carlton alone. Yet how stupidly compromising circ.u.mstances can occasionally become! I returned to Beechcroft. I did not mention my meeting with Robert because, indeed, Giovanni and I were hardly on speaking terms. One day, in the library, I was sorting a number of accounts, when I was summoned elsewhere for a few minutes. On top of the pile was my receipted hotel bill. My husband came in, glanced at the paper, and saw a charge for a guest. When I returned he asked me whom I had been entertaining. I told him, and could not help blushing, the affair being so flagrantly absurd."
"Is that all?"
"I declare to you, Mr. Brett, that you are now as well informed as I am myself concerning our estrangement."
"There is, I take it, no objection on your part to the inquiry I have undertaken--the fixing of responsibility for your brother"s death, I mean?"
Margaret was silent for a few seconds before she said, in a low and steady voice:
"We are a strange race, we Hume-Frazers. Somehow I felt, when I first saw you and Davie together, that you would be bound up with a crisis in my life. I dread crises. They have ever been unfortunate for me. I cannot explain myself further. I know I am approaching an eventful epoch. Well, I am prepared. Go on with your work, in G.o.d"s name. I cannot become more unhappy than I am."
CHAPTER XV
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
A clock in the church tower chimed the half-hour.
"We dine at seven," said Mrs. Capella. "Let us return to the house. I told the housekeeper to prepare a room for you. Would you care to remain for the night? One of the grooms can bring from Stowmarket any articles you may need."
Brett declined the invitation, pleading a certain amount of work to be done before he retired to rest, and his expectation of finding letters or telegrams at the hotel.
They walked more rapidly up the avenue, and the barrister noted the graceful ease of Margaret"s movements.
"Is it a fact" he asked, "that you suffer from heart disease?"
She laughed, and said, with a certain charming hesitation:
"You are both doctor and lawyer, Mr. Brett. My heart is quite sound. I have been foolish enough to seek relief from my troubles in morphia. Do not be alarmed. I am not a morphinee. I promised Nellie yesterday to stop it, and I am quite certain to succeed."
The dinner pa.s.sed uneventfully.
As Brett was unable to change his clothes, neither of the ladies, of course, appeared in elaborate costumes.
Helen wore a simple white muslin dress, with pale blue ribbons. Margaret, mindful of the barrister"s hint concerning her attire, now appeared in pale grey crepe de chine, trimmed with cerise panne velvet.
When she entered the drawing-room she almost startled the others, so strong was the contrast between her present effective garments and the black raiment she had affected constantly since her return to Beechcroft after her marriage.
"The reform has commenced," she cried gaily, seeing how they looked at her. "My maid is in ecstasies about the proposed visit to my dressmaker"s.
She insisted on showing me a study for an Ascot frock in the _Queen_."
"Ah, she is a Frenchwoman?" said Brett.
"Yes; and pray what mystery have you elucidated now?"
"Not a mystery, but a sober fact. A Frenchwoman must be in the mode.
Anybody else would have told you to copy yourself. Fashions are a sealed book to me, but I do claim a certain taste in colour effect, and you have gratified it."
"And have you nothing nice to say to me, Mr. Brett?" pouted Helen.
"So much that I must remain dumb. I have a vivid recollection of Mr.
Hume"s tragic air when he asked me to give you "his kind regards.""
"The dear boy! You have not yet told us why you left him in London."
In view of Mrs. Capella"s outspokenness concerning her cousin, this was a poser. Brett fenced with the query, and the announcement of dinner stopped all personal references. The barrister"s eyes wandered round the dining-room. The shaded candles on the table did not permit much light to fall on the walls, but such portraits as were visible showed that David was right when he said the "Hume-Frazers were all alike." They were a handsome, determined-looking race, strong, dour, inflexible.
The night was beautifully fine. The day seemed loth to die, and the twilight lingering on the pleasant landscape tempted them outside, after the butler had handed Brett a box of excellent cigars.
They went through the conservatory into the park, and sauntered over the springy pastureland, whilst Brett amused the ladies by a carefully edited account of his visit to the Jiro family.
An hour pa.s.sed in pleasant chat. Then Miss Layton thought it was time she went home, and Brett proposed to escort her to the Rectory, subsequently picking up his conveyance at the inn.
They walked obliquely across the park towards the house, regaining it through a clump of laurels and the conservatory.
It chanced that for a moment they were silent. Margaret led the way. Helen followed. Brett came close behind.
When the mistress of Beechcroft Hall stepped on to the turf in front of the library, a man who was standing under the yews a little way down the avenue moved forward to accost her.
She uttered a little cry of alarm and retreated quickly.
"Why, Davie," cried Helen, "surely it cannot be you!"
The stranger made no reply, but paused irresolutely. Even in the dim light Brett needed no second glance to reveal to him the astounding coincidence that this mysterious prowler was Robert Hume-Frazer.
"Good evening," he said politely. "Do you wish to see your cousin?"
"And who the devil may you be?" was the uncompromising answer.